Baylor to host Michael Johnson/Southwestern Bell Classic
Baylor's men's and women's track and field teams will return to action this week, hosting the Michael Johnson/Southwestern Bell Classic at the Hart/Patterson Track Complex in Waco, Texas. In all, 21 women's teams and 22 men's teams will be competing, included in that list are five teams ranked in this week's Trackwire Top 25 -- Baylor men (tied-seventh), Southern Methodist women (t14th) and men (12th), and Texas-El Paso women (t12th) and men (ninth). There will also be nearly 100 unattached and open athletes in action. The meet will begin Friday afternoon, the first day will see four field events -- the men's and women's pole vault, and the men's and women's hammer -- as well as the women's and men's steeplechase beginning at 8 p.m. Most of the action will be held Saturday, field events will begin at 9 a.m., while running events will begin at noon with finals starting at 6 p.m.

Baylor in 38th season under HartClyde Hart is in his 38th season as the head coach of Baylor's track and field program. In his tenure at BU, Hart has firmly established the Bear program as one of the best in the nation. Since 1985, 16 Baylor athletes have won 51 NCAA Championships, including two last season. An men's assistant coach for Team USA at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Hart has coached eight World Record holders and seven NCAA record holders. In 1996, he was named Coach of the Year by the United States Olympic Committee. That year, he coached Michael Johnson to Gold Medals in the 200 meters and the 400 meters at the Games of the 26th Olympiad in Atlanta, Ga. Hart was also named NCAA Indoor Coach of the Year in 1996 after garnering such honors in 1989. A four-time Southwest Conference Indoor Coach of the Year, Hart has seen 14 of his male athletes finish in the top 10 at the NCAA Championships. He has established Baylor as "Quarter-Mile U." after producing 10 4x400-meter relay national champions and three 400-meter national champions.

Last year at the Michael Johnson/Southwestern Bell Classic
At the 2000 Michael Johnson/Southwestern Bell Classic, the Baylor women reached NCAA provisional marks in winning both the 4x100-meter relay and in the 4x440-yard relay. In the former event, Chava Demart, Ssereta Lafayette, Tamara Johnson and Barbara Petrahn combined for a time of 45.03 seconds, their second-best mark of the year. In the mile relay, Brown, Demart, Udi Deja Opusunju and Petrahn ran a time of 3:39.92, their best mark of the season. Petrahn turned in a first-place finish with a 52.32 NCAA provisional mark in the finals of the 400 meters. Stephanie Bennett took second place in the 1,500 meters (4:38.48), Lafayette also finished second in the 100 meters with a finals time of 11.91 seconds, and Lanie Millar placed second in the 400-meter hurdles (1:02.70). Baylor turned in three first-place finishes in field events. Laci Lewis-Tindle won the high jump (5-7), Amber Market captured the javelin title (124-1) and Rebecca Denham cleared 9-6 1/4 to win the pole vault. On the men's side, Michael Smith ran a season-best time of 14.05 in winning the 110-meter hurdles, while Martin Dossett finished second in the 200 meters at 21.96. Brandon Couts claimed the invitational 400 meter title (45.21), Zsolt Szeglet (46.44) and Peter Hauser (47.18) finished first and second, respectively, in the open 400. Jonathan Pike turned in his best 800-meter time of the year at 1:49.78 to finish second, Floyd Thompson won the 800 at 1:49.53. Ferenc Bekesi (3:52.45) and Jon Capron (3:53.38) placed first and second, respectively, in the 1,500 meters. Other Bears finishing first or second were as follows: Brandon Buhr (1st, 15:19.92) and Aaron Ward (2nd, 15:25.46) in the 5,000 meters, Tre Gardner, Randy Davis, Dossett and Szeglet (1st, 40.20) in the 4x100-meter relay, Bayano Kamani (1st, 49.68) and Smith (2nd, 50.18) in the 400-meter hurdles, Marcus Swiat (2nd, 7-0 1/2) in the pole vault, Hauser, Szeglet, Thompson and Couts (1st, 3:05.59) in the mile relay.

Bears, Florida now knotted at 7th in Trackwire Top 25
Baylor's men's team remained seventh in this week's Trackwire Top 25, however, the Bears are now tied with Southeastern Conference power Florida. Meanwhile, Louisiana State moved out of a first-place tie with Texas Christian, the Tigers are now the sole No. 1 team, followed by TCU. Arkansas and Tennessee are tied for fourth, Auburn is fifth and Stanford is sixth. Texas-El Paso is ranked ninth, while Southern California and Alabama are tied at No. 10. Joining Baylor in the Top 25 from the Big 12 is Texas A&M (15th) and Texas (tied-16th). In the women's poll, UCLA and Southern California remained 1-2, while South Carolina and Arizona are tied for third. Brigham Young, Louisiana State and Texas are fifth through seventh, respectively, while Clemson and Arkansas are tied at No. 8. Colorado rounds out the top 10.

Kamani named Big 12 Conference Co-Athlete of the Week
Senior Bayano Kamani was named Big 12 Male Co-Athlete of the week, the conference office announced Monday. Kamani, who earned the weekly honor once during the indoor season, highlighted Baylor's impressive showing at last Saturday's Tellez Invitational in Houston, Texas. Running in his hometown, Kamani posted the nation's fastest 400-meter hurdle time of the season at 49.49 seconds in winning the event. That NCAA automatic qualifying time established a new meet record and ranks seventh all-time at Baylor. However, Kamani did not stop there. He then anchored Baylor's 4x400-meter relay team to an NCAA automatic time of 3:02.16, his time in the fourth leg was 44.80 seconds. Kamani shares this week's honor with Texas pole vaulter Brian Hunter, who posted the nation's best mark of the season at 18-2 ? (5.55 meters).

Bears establish 4x800 meet record, 4x1500 school mark at Texas Relays
The Baylor quartet of Damian Davis, Jonathan Pike, Nick Devenport and Floyd Thompson established a 4x800-meter relay meet record at the 74th annual Clyde Littlefield Texas Relays with a time of 7:25.40. It marked the fourth time Baylor has won the 4x800 title at the Texas Relays and the first time since 1994. Meanwhile, the 4x1,500-meter relay team of Ferenc Bekesi, Jon Capron, Matt Chance and Devenport combined for a Baylor-record time of 15:40.08 and a fourth-place finish. That time was more than nine seconds better than the previous school mark.

Bears finish indoor season ranked eighth in Trackwire poll
Baylor's men's indoor track team ranked eighth in the final indoor Trackwire Top 25. The Bears were ranked no lower than ninth throughout the season and reached as high as seventh, spending the majority of the season in eighth.

Kamani takes third in 400 meters at Nationals
Senior Bayano Kamani earned his seventh all-America honor with a third-place finish in the 400 meters at the NCAA Indoor National Championships. His time of 46.20 won the first section of the finals and placed third in the two-section race. It was a personal-best time for Kamani, who was the 400-meter hurdles outdoor national champion in 1999.

Injury keeps Couts out of National Championships
2000 indoor 400-meter national champion Brandon Couts did not get a chance to defend his title at the 2001 Indoor National Championships. The Greenville, Texas, native was sidelined with a hamstring injury he sustained during the 200-meter finals at the Big 12 Championships. Couts, who had already won the 400-meter title, pulled up 70 meters into the race, halfway down the first straightaway, he was able to finish the race, placing seventh. Head coach Clyde Hart said having Couts compete was not wise due to the possibility of further injury, which would jeopardize his availability for the outdoor season.

Couts claims Baylor conference title record
Senior Brandon Couts claimed his 12th -career Big 12 Conference title two weeks ago in winning the 400 meters. That winning effort moved Couts into sole possession of the Baylor record for most overall individual conference titles in a career, breaking out of a first-place tie with current Bear assistant coach Todd Harbour. Six of Couts' titles have come in individual events and six in relay events. Due to his injury sustained in the 200-meter finals, Couts did not get a chance to move into a four-way tie for first all-time at Baylor in relay titles. However, he is now sole possession of second all-time at Baylor in individual event titles. Raoul Howard, Michael Johnson and Corey Williams currently share the school mark for relay titles at seven, while Harbour sits atop the individual list with nine. ... Also, senior Bayano Kamani moved into the top 10 lists in total titles and relay titles, he now has eight total titles, six in relay events.

Roessler breaks school weight throw record
Junior Rachal Roessler placed third at the Big 12 Championships in the women's 20-pound weight throw with a mark of 51-9 3/4. In doing so, she broke her own school record of 49-3 3/4 set last season at the Gator Invitational. Roessler, a native of Lorena, Texas, was one of six Baylor women to earn points at the conference meet.